Farewell Topsails is a short film about the last topsail schooners in the British china clay trade. Remarkably for a film made in 1937, the short is in color, using the Dufaycolor process. The film was made by Humphrey Jennings who would become known for his work during World War II with the Crown Film Unit, a film-making propaganda arm of the Ministry of Information. Jennings was described by film critic and director Lindsay Anderson in 1954 as: “the only real poet that British cinema has yet produced.” Jennings died at the age of 43, on the island of Poros, Greece after falling from a cliff while scouting locations for a film.
Old Salt Blog
a virtual port of call for all those who love the sea , hosted by nautical novelist Rick Spilman
Great film Rick, thank you, Thames Sailing Barges used to do the same ‘run.’
I very much enjoyed this; thanks for posting it. The soft colors are lovely. Humphrey Jennings was a great documentarian whose collected films give a remarkable sense of Britain in the 1935-1950 period.
The end of an Age. My mother probably knew those schooners. I was born a little too late but I knew the Katie of Padstow, featured in this film, in her dying days, in the late 60s, when a desperate bid was made to preserve her.
More recently, the small harbour of Charlestown saw a rebirth of sail when owned by Square Sail Ltd, being the home port of the full-rigged ship Earl of Pembroke, the barque Kaskelot, the brig Phoenix and the gaff schooner Carrie. All the ships having been sold except Phoenix, the business (Charlestown dock, yard and facilities, incl. Phoenix) was sold last October to Square Sail Ventures Ltd that will continue in the same line of business (ships, props, sets, etc. for the film and television industry).